Ukraine simplifies recruitment of mercenaries

The Ukrainian government has made a new attempt to recruit more foreign mercenaries for its army, authorizing officials to arrange and pay for transportation, food, and accommodation, according to lawmakers.

Kiev is struggling to enforce mandatory conscription, being faced with a wave of mass draft avoidance. Foreign “volunteers” – viewed by Moscow as mercenaries – have helped cover up for ongoing manpower shortages in the Ukrainian military.

On Tuesday, MPs Aleksey Goncharenko and Taras Meinichuk announced policy changes that authorize Ukrainian recruitment centers to transport foreign nationals and stateless persons across the border. The Defense Ministry and National Guard can now fund such trips from their budgets, according to the officials.

Moscow regards non-Ukrainians serving in Kiev’s military as criminals, not covered by the protections normally granted to combatants. Following reports of foreign fighters being involved in the Ukrainian incursion into Russia’s Kursk Region, President Vladimir Putin warned in March that “mercenaries are not protected by the 1949 Geneva Convention on POWs.”

Russian officials have claimed that some mercenaries are unofficially deployed by their home governments to operate complex Western-supplied weaponry or to advise Ukrainian officers.

This week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said a recent strike on Sumy targeted Ukrainian military leaders during a meeting with “Western colleagues.” He insisted that “there are NATO servicemen there, and they are directly in charge” of Ukrainian operations.

Extensive recent reports in US and British media have described the significant involvement of both nations’ militaries in directing the Ukraine conflict, surpassing official acknowledgments by their governments. Coverage from the New York Times and The Times of London appeared to substantiate Moscow’s position that the conflict is a NATO proxy war against Russia.